Winter draws on

  

Saturday 19th June 2021
"Stop me before I buy again!"  Saturday afternoon was a blur of op-shops, pharmacies and restaurants.  At one point I abandoned my dignity to crawl along the floor on my hands and knees in front of the display of DVD movies in the Salvation Army store, so I could inspect the lowest shelves.  I did find a few rare items, and did manage to get to my feet again afterwards.  
At least I wasn't as bad as Keith, who went home with ten bags full of books for himself and his friends.

Listened to "The Final Game", a fan-made Doctor Who serial made by Moonlight Audio Theater.  It's about the final confrontation between the third doctor and his foe The Master.  Some of the acting from the female companions is a bit so-so but the two leads do a perfect imitation of Jon Pertwee and Roger Delgado.  

Sunday morning I noticed an extra table set up in the church hall.  All was explained when we went out for morning tea.  St John's was catering for all ages --  coffee for the grown-ups and Lego for the youngsters.

Tuesday 22nd June
Winter Solstice.  I always seem to be playing croquet on this, the deepest darkest part of winter.  I suffered through the first game, wishing I'd remembered my gloves and wondering whether I should go home at intermission.  By the time the second game came round, the sun had broken through and we actually had shadows, so I stayed on.  Lost both games but it was an interesting experience.
You could say the same about the quiz night.  We didn't do too badly (even getting a perfect score for the Cinema & TV round) and made a quite respectable 80 points. That was enough to get us fourth place, while the team titled Diamond Set Stickpin stormed home with 97 points.  I was slightly distracted trying to get through on the phone seeking information about a friend who had been rushed to hospital.  But all was well in the end.

Wednesday night quiz  --  we must be improving a little because we didn't lose by as much as we usually do!  At the halfway mark we were in second place, and we finished with 74 points in fifth place after scoring 8/10 in  most rounds.  The winners Multiplay scored 82 points, which wouldn't have won most Wednesdays.   Watch out, next week!
 
A musical safari into the Great American Songbook!  

Saturday night I seldom go out, but I made an exception this week for Nadira's concert at the Moonah Arts Centre. I remember seeing her when she first appeared there in 2015, singing all the great old standards  --  this is her first post-pandemic show there.  As usual she came over and gave me a hug at interval --  you might say that was against the social distancing rules, but since she only comes up to my sternum there was a minimal risk to public health.  Her voice is so clear that even my aging ears can follow all the words of every song.

Sunday morning in church went off all right, but sad news about our sister church in Mount Stuart closing its doors, and our assistant minister moving nterstate later this year for family reasons.  Sorry to hear that.

Old radio shows last week:
JOHNNY DOLLAR, GUNSMOKE, DRAGNET, THE WHISTLER, JACK BENNY, JOHN STEELE, GUIDING LIGHT, HALLS OF IVY, INNER SANCTUM and THE ARCHERS.

The Covid situation continues to be unpredictable.  Health scares in several different places across Australia, and New South Wales in particular must be feeling unloved.  Not only have 200 police officers been deployed to watch over the NSW/Victoria border, but a hotel in Canberra told 50 travellers from Sydney that they could stay the night but they'd have to go home the next day.

Monday 28th June
Spent the afternoon inside, keeping warm and working on my radio show collection.  Catalogued a lot of folders and then backed them up to the external hard drive.  While I was doing this, in between nodding off in my armchair, listened to episodes of "Maigret" and "Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" from my drama collection.

If you are friends with Keith Curtis, you learn to speak up when you have a chance, otherwise you won't get a word in edgeways.  But this evening I was speechless when Keith rang.  "I was looking at some DVDs today," he began, "are you interested in a complete run of LAW & ORDER?"  There was a moment of silence before I asked weakly if it was a boxed set.  "No, separate packs for each of the twenty seasons.  Are you interested?"  I gurgled something that he took as an affirmative and quoted me a price.  "Yes," I said.  "I haven't checked the condition of the discs yet."  I told him that anyone who went to the trouble of collecting the entire run of the show would probably treat the discs with the appropriate care.   Good Lord, that is 456 episodes.  

HAIKU FOR SUE NEILL-FRASER
"Twenty six years jail,
convicted by conjecture?
A bizarre verdict!"